Tutorials

Linux System Admin Tips:
There are over 200 Linux tips and tricks in this article. That is over 100 pages
covering everything from NTP, setting up 2 IP address on one NIC, sharing directories among
several users, putting running jobs in the background, find out who is doing what on your
system by examining open sockets and the ps command, how to watch a file, how to prevent
even root from deleting a file, tape commands, setting up cron jobs, using rsync, using
screen conveniently with emacs, how to kill every process for a user, security tips
and a lot more. These tip grow weekly. The above link will download the text
version for easy grep searching. There is also an html version
here.

Breaking Firewalls with OpenSSH and PuTTY:
If the system administrator deliberately filters out all
traffic except port 22 (ssh), to a single server, it is very
likely that you can still gain access other computers behind the
firewall. This article shows how remote Linux and Windows users can
gain access to firewalled samba, mail, and http servers. In essence,
it shows how openSSH and Putty can be used as a VPN solution for
your home or workplace.

MySQL Tips and Tricks:
Find out who is doing what in MySQL and how to kill the process, create binary log files,
connect, create and select with Perl and Java, remove duplicates in a table with the index command,
rollback and how to apply, merging several tables into one, updating foreign keys, monitor port
3306 with the tcpdump command, creating a C API, complex selects, and much more.

Create a Live Linux CD - BusyBox and OpenSSH Included:
These steps will show you how to create a functioning Linux system,
with the latest 2.6 kernel compiled from source, and how to integrate
the BusyBox utilities including the installation of DHCP. Plus, how to
compile in the OpenSSH package on this CD based system.
On system boot-up a filesystem will be created and the contents from the CD will be
uncompressed and completely loaded into RAM -- the CD could be removed at this
point for boot-up on a second computer. The remaining functioning
system will have full ssh capabilities. You can take over any PC assuming, of course,
you have configured the kernel with the appropriate drivers and the
PC can boot from a CD. This tutorial steps you through the whole processes.

SQLite Tutorial :
This article explores the power and simplicity of sqlite3, first by starting with common
commands and triggers, then the attach statement with the union operation is introduced in
a way that allows multiple tables, in separate databases, to be combined as one virtual table,
without the overhead of copying or moving data. Next, the simple sign function and the
amazingly powerful trick of using this function in SQL select statements to
solve complex queries with a single pass through the data is demonstrated, after making a brief
mathematical case for how the sign function defines the absolute value and IF conditions.

The Lemon Parser Tutorial:
This article explains how to build grammars and programs using the lemon parser,
which is faster than yacc. And, unlike yacc, it is thread safe.

Virtual Filesystem: Building
A Linux Filesystem From An Ordinary File. You can take a disk file, format it as ext2, ext3, or reiser filesystem and then mount it, just
like a physical drive. Yes, it then possible to read and write files to this newly mounted device. You
can also copy the complete filesystem, since it is just a file, to another computer.
If security is an issue, read on. This article will show you how to encrypt the filesystem, and
mount it with ACL (Access Control Lists), which give you rights beyond the
traditional read (r) write (w) and execute (x) for the 3 user groups file, owner and other.

Working With Time:
What? There are 61 seconds in a minute? We can go back in time? We still tell time by the sun?

Mike Chirico, a father of triplets (all girls) lives outside of
Philadelphia, PA, USA. He has worked with Linux since 1996, has a Masters
in Computer Science and Mathematics from Villanova University, and has
worked in computer-related jobs from Wall Street to the University of
Pennsylvania. His hero is Paul Erdos, a brilliant number theorist who was
known for his open collaboration with others.

Mike's notes page is souptonuts. For
open source consulting needs, please send an email to
mchirico@gmail.com. All consulting work must include a donation to
SourceForge.net.